Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have tried numerous puzzle games, yet keep coming back to Candy Crush Saga. It is fun and really can become quite addicting. Visuals: The graphics are detailed and high-quality. Colors are vibrant and enhance the playing experience. One minor annoyance is that this app seems to cause my screen to flicker on occasion, mainly with the auto-brightness turned on. It does not last forever, nor occur all of the time, so not enough to negatively impact play. Sound: There are options to turn the sound and music on/off by tapping in the lower left corner of your screen. I find the music and sound effects to be very well done, without being overwhelming. The music reminds me of what you would hear on an old Merry-Go-Round. Battery/Resource/Memory Usage: This game uses a lot of memory, but has not affected the performance of my Kindle HDX, thus far. Even when I am not actually playing, it uses 135MB of RAM. For comparison, the next closest app uses 39MB. It also seems to draw a lot of battery power. On my Kindle HDX, playing this game for about 30 min can move the indicator from full to about 82% or so, depending on the level set. Neither of these has caused a performance loss nor affected my decision to continue playing. I enjoy the game too much and, for me, they are minor inconveniences. I mention them to provide information for those who may consider these factors a major influence. Game-play: Candy Crush Saga is very fun to play. The lower levels slowly introduce you to how the game works and also allow you to try out some of the power-ups for free. You can tell if a free one is available on the start screen as there will be a number on the icon. Also, as you play, you discover how to combine candies to create more powerful ones. The game gives you five lives, at a time, for free. Once you use those up it is about 17 minutes until you will get another life and about an hour until full. You can choose to have the game notify you, or just wait it out. While I do wish there were one or two more standard lives, I think five is satisfactory for a free game. Additionally, using them up provides a break from playing. The levels, in general, fall into a few categories: "Clear all of the Jelly, Bring Ingredients down to the bottom, Score so many points in so many moves, and Score so many points in a certain amount of time." As you progress through different level sets, new challenges are thrown at you, such as "caged" candies, chocolate that moves and blocks out squares, and bombs to "defuse." Candy Crush has done a very nice job of inter-mixing degrees of difficulty. I would not say it is always progressively harder, yet as you move further along, strategy plays a larger part. Of course, there are some levels that can be frustrating, yet when you beat them, it is a nice sense of accomplishment. Lastly, the game scores you using a three-star system; bronze, silver, and gold. While I waited for new level sets to open up (explained further down), I would go back and try to hit gold on older ones. Ads: There are no ads for other products or games in Candy Crush Saga that I have noticed. It will occasionally ask you if you want to purchase additional power ups or more moves, yet I did not find it spammy. Free or Pay To Win?: Before you start each level, the screen offers you choices of power-ups you can pay for, if you choose. While I did try out the free ones in the early levels, I have yet to purchase any power-ups. Currently I am on level 125 and can say that, at least up to this point, every level can be beaten without buying anything. Some may take you longer to figure out, but I like the challenge of it. They offer you the choice to spend money, yet do not force it. Also, I have not paid to unlock any new level sets. At first, I thought that it was like the rest, and once you did the first few levels, it would cost money. I hit level 10 and the screen showed "To unlock more levels." so I was initially bummed. Having not hit gold on each one, I went back and kept playing until I scored, mostly, gold stars from 1-10. Within a few days, the notification screen on my Kindle had something from Candy Crush Saga. It had the icon and read "The Tooth Fairy has a surprise for you." Upon opening the game, the next level set was unlocked. This has been the case for every level set up to my current level 125. Whether or not having mostly gold stars influences it, I do not know, because I always use the time to go back and improve my scores. Be aware that the time it takes for the tooth fairy to visit can vary; sometimes a day, sometimes a few days. Therefore, while you have the option to spend money to progress faster, to make levels easier, it is not required. As I mentioned, I am currently on level 125, and have not spent money. I actually feel a little guilty about that, because this is a fun game and the developers did an excellent job designing it. I do not think I would buy power-ups, because I enjoy the challenge of beating levels without them. However, if it becomes the case that I have to pay to unlock levels later on, to me it would be worth it. Conclusion: I really enjoy playing Candy Crush Saga. It is a nice break and provides challenging and fun entertainment. If you are looking for a candy/gem/balloon type game, I recommend giving this one a try. Just be warned, it can be addicting.